The Genesis of the French Revolution, first published in 1994, offers an interesting synthesis of the long- and short-term causes of the French Revolution. Instead of focusing exclusively upon developments within France, the book immediately places the country, and its revolution, within an international setting. Bailey Stone argues that the French Revolution stemmed from the pre-revolutionary state's converging failures in international and domestic affairs; the monarchy failed not only to remain in touch with changing social, intellectual, and political realities at home, but also to harness its citizens' ambitions and talents to the purpose of maintaining the country's international power and prestige. This analysis also provides a key to comprehending the course of events in revolutionary and post-revolutionary France - and an insight into why revolutionary movements broke out in the former USSR and its surrounding countries.

"Stone has ranged very widely over the secondary literature; his erudition is impressive and his book is crammed with information." Norman Hampson, International History Review

"This volume offers nothing less than a novel reinterpretation of the French Revolution....This densely written book, based on a very wide reading about the French Revolution, provides a complicated argument. It is exciting, interesting, well-researched and contains sections that summarize very complex and somewhat inaccessible debates." Jack R. Censer, Journal of Social History

"...Stone has performed a useful service in bringing together recent historical work on these topics and blending them into a concise narrative of France's slide towrd 1789....Stone writes clearly, and his argument is easy to follow....[T]he book will certainly appeal to students trying to make sense of a bulging and untidy historical literature. The synthesis of works on the neglected field of early modern France's international relations is particularly helpful." David A. Bell, Journal of Interdisciplinary History